UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 15095 / September 30, 1996
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. JOHN G. BENNETT (E.D. Pa., Filed
September 27, 1996)
Michael R. Stiles, the United States Attorney for the
Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and the Securities and Exchange
Commission ("Commission") announced the indictment on September
27, 1996 in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania of John G.
Bennett, Jr. ("Bennett"), the founder and former president of the
Foundation For New Era Philanthropy ("New Era"). The E.D. Pa.
indictment charges Bennett with sixteen counts of mail fraud,
eighteen counts of wire fraud, one count of bank fraud, one count
of false statements to the government, three counts of filing
false tax returns, one count of impeding the administration of
the revenue laws, fifteen counts of money laundering, and twenty-
seven counts of money laundering to promote an unlawful activity.
The indictment against Bennett is based, in large part, upon
the same essential facts as are alleged in the Commission's
complaint against Bennett and New Era, which was filed in the
Eastern District of Pennsylvania on May 18, 1995. The indictment
alleges that Bennett's conduct resulted in losses of $135,000,000
and in the filing for bankruptcy protection by New Era in May,
1995. The indictment also alleges that Bennett operated the New
Era Concepts program at New Era. New Concepts offered individual
benefactors a chance to double their gifts to charity. The funds
to double the gifts allegedly came from "anonymous donors."
Later in the scheme, non-profit organizations were offered the
opportunity to double funds by submitting them to New Era. These
organizations could send money to New Era and have the funds
matched by the anonymous donors and returned. The matching
allegedly occurred after a three to nine month holding period.
The indictment alleges that the operation of this scheme brought
in approximately $354,000,000. The indictment says that, in
order to obtain funds from benefactors and nonprofit
organizations, Bennett made various representations about the
operation of New Era, all of which were false. Some of these
representations are: 1) that the anonymous donors existed, that
they provided matching funds, and that there were trust
agreements with these anonymous donors, when, in fact, there were
no anonymous donors and money from later donors provided the
matching payments for earlier donors; 2) that Bennett was not
paid for his work at New Era, when, in fact, he transferred over
$3.3 million from New Era accounts to the accounts of Bennett-
related entities; 3) that money from benefactors and non-profits
was being held in escrow or "quasi-escrow" accounts at Prudential
Securities, Inc. during the holding period, when, in fact, the
funds were being used to secure a large loan at Prudential, and
some of the funds used to repay contributors to New Era were paid
from the loan account; and 4) that New Era had a board of
directors of prestigious individuals, when, in fact, Bennett was
the only director. For further information see Lit. Rel. ##s
14503, 14505 & 14531.